You’re Not “Too Much”, You’re Carrying Too Much

by Sharn Somasiri
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Many people have been told their whole lives that they are “too emotional,” “too sensitive,” “too intense,” or “too dramatic.” They’ve been shamed for their reactions, criticised for their feelings, or blamed for their depth. Over time, they internalise these messages and begin to believe something is inherently wrong with them.

But emotional intensity is not a flaw.
It is a sign of an overwhelmed nervous system.

When the body has lived through trauma, chronic stress, emotional neglect, or long-term instability, it adapts by becoming hyperresponsive to internal and external cues. This is not a personality trait, it’s a survival response.

Trauma research shows that experiences of fear, shame or unpredictability create changes in the limbic system, particularly in the amygdala and hippocampus. These changes can make emotional experiences feel more intense, more immediate and harder to regulate. You might feel flooded with emotion, overstimulated by stress, or easily overwhelmed by conflict.

This is not because you are “too much.”
It’s because your system has carried too much for too long.

When people say, “I feel everything so strongly,” what they are really describing is a nervous system stuck in hyperarousal. When someone says, “I can’t let things go,” what they often mean is that their emotional memory system has not fully processed past experiences. When someone says, “I react too fast,” what they mean is that their body still operates from a place of survival, not security.

Emotional sensitivity becomes a burden when it’s tied to old wounds and unresolved emotions. But when we work through those emotional imprints, using inner child work, parts integration, somatic grounding and deep emotional processing, sensitivity transforms.

It becomes intuition.
It becomes empathy.
It becomes emotional intelligence.
It becomes clarity and depth.

You don’t need to become less sensitive to find peace.
You need to release what your sensitivity has been protecting you from.

You were never “too much.”
You were simply carrying emotional weight alone for far too long.

With healing, that weight begins to lift and what remains is your truest self: grounded, wise, intuitive and deeply connected.